Friday, 3 April 2015

Hot Cross Buns (apple, cherry & sultana) - gluten free

Happy Good Friday! Or is that Happy Hot Cross Bun day?

Good Friday is traditionally the day to eat hot cross buns...... a sweet, spiced, fruity bread bun marked with a cross on the top and coated in a sugar glaze. When I was a child, Good Friday was the only day to eat Hot Cross Buns and they were always synonymous with the start of the Easter celebrations. They were something to look forward to....... cut...... toasted...... warm........ slathered in fresh melting butter which dribbled invitingly down the sides of the bun (and usually down your chin with each excited bite).

These days, it seems you can get Hot Cross Buns for several months of the year and the anticipation of waiting for the special moment to devour them has all but gone. You can also get them in a whole variety of flavours from traditional dried fruit and its many fruity variations through to chocolate or toffee.

Personally I don't really like mixed peel and I'm not over-keen on raisins, but I do like sultanas and cherries and apple, so I thought I would combine these and test out my first ever Hot Cross Buns.

I'm not sure why I have never made them before, because I love eating them. It took me three recipe variations before I was happy with the result you see here. Hot Cross Buns should (in my experience) be a little bit heavy, yet reasonably airy, with a slightly denser chew. The first ones I made were too light and a little dry. The next were too stodgy. This 3rd test hit the mark....... freshly made this morning to enjoy on the right day!

These buns are laden with fruit (including some Morello glace cherries), laced with plenty of cinnamon, a little ginger, a splash and a grate of orange and are sweetened with honey. Coated with a brown sugar glaze, they are a good, comparable gluten free alternative for those of us who can't (or don't) eat gluten. They taste wonderful straight from the oven and stay soft and moist well after cooling. Eat them straight or toast in the traditional way....... The perfect Easter treat!

Some of the batch were baked as individual buns, and some as a Hot Cross Bun round. The buns in the 'round' stuck together well as they rose and peeled apart perfectly after baking. Actually I preferred them this way as the sides seemed softer and fluffier than those that were exposed entirely to the heat of the oven. If you prefer a crisper edge, just go with the ordinary spaced apart baking method.

I ate mine with an amazing zesty, fruity citrus curd that I made to get rid of some fruit which needed to be used (recipe to be posted soon). Delicious!

Treat Petite with Kat at The Baking Explorer (and Cakeyboi), who have set the theme this month as 'Hello Spring'. Easter always marks the start of Spring for me, so a bun dedicated to such a major Spring festival seems appropriate.

Method

Mix together the flours, xanthan gum, modified tapioca starch, spices and salt, making sure any lumps are completely broken down. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the warm milk, yeast and 1 teaspoon honey and leave for 10 minutes to activate and froth.

In a separate medium-sized glass heat-proof bowl, melt the butter with the honey in the microwave on medium setting (30 second bursts, stirring between each) and whisk to combine. (or you can heat gently in a small saucepan and then transfer to a bowl once melted)

Remove from the heat and cool slightly, before whisking in the eggs one at a time.

These look perfect and I like the combination of apple, cherry and sultana. J has been asking for hot cross buns for days but I just haven't had time. Will see if I can make some before the end of the weekend! Thanks for entering AlphaBakes. Happy Easter x

I love making hot cross buns - I have some in the freezer to last a wee bit but feel I have had enough for a while after the last few days. Yours sound really lovely. Didn't know you could get tapica starch as well as tapioca flour - I usually get whatever is in the supermarket but they didn't have any today so I may need to go to a health food shop for it. Hope you had a lovely easter.

Me too! All my 'experiments' (which didn't make the final recipe) are in the freezer..... I can feel a bread and butter pud coming on....The modified Tapioca Starch is an ingredient which is different to the Tapioca Starch Flour. It has a particular quality to bind and stretch, so is particularly good with pasta and breads. It took me a while to find it in the UK. I have no idea whether it has made Australia yet?

I always LOVE to hear from you, so please leave a comment, share your thoughts and stay in touch.

By leaving a comment, you consent to any personal information you choose to share being collected by Gluten Free Alchemist for statistical and monitoring purposes and you enter into a public conversation linked to the post. You may choose to make your comment anonymous by ticking the relevant check-box. For full details of the GFA Privacy Policy, please click on the signposted label at the top of the page.

I'm Kate, author of the Gluten Free Alchemist blog.

We love sharing our gluten free recipes, baking and product reviews and our experiences of travel and parenting. We embrace Coeliac diagnosis without fear and enjoy the adventure and challenge it has given us.

To get recipes hot off the press & straight into your in-box, SIGN UP HERE :